I want to dual-boot Debian and Mint

[karmafarmer]

Could anybody give me some partitioning advice?

I installed Linux Mint 13 onto a clean PC a while ago. Now I'd like to dual-boot with Debian (minimal, netinst) to try out different wm's and desktops etc, and get to know it a bit.

I'd like to keep my Mint installation (my kids have Minecraft, and all sorts of things on WINE, so restoring backups is last resort!) so I'd like to resize partitions nondestructively. I had a look at the Mint partitions, and I'm not really sure where to start and I'm worried about breaking something, so I thought I'd ask first.

Is there a quick guide to doing this (or something similar)?

Thanks,

Karl

[passerby]

I'm sure there's a guide, but I'll leave that to someone more familiar.
If you don't want to lose data, boot through a live CD/DVD and resize the partition from there. Don't move partitions if you don't have to; in my experience this causes more problems than actually resizing.
Also, don't cancel after you start. Make sure you have the right dimensions before you begin resizing.

Be wary if you're considering using a live USB. More than once I've had the USB stop receiving power during the middle of a resize, causing loss of data. Never happened with a CD or DVD.
That being said, it could just be a problem with my flash drives and not with live booting USBs in general. Just a word of caution.

[wayne128]

I'd like to keep my Mint installation (my kids have Minecraft, and all sorts of things on WINE, so restoring backups is last resort!)

You probably need to consider CLONE your hard disk OS partition.

read this post and link for common options
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=124703

so I'd like to resize partitions nondestructively.

I would NOT want to say there is such thing as nondestructive partitioning..
Any partitioning method, would carry a risk of loss of data or making OS partition unbootable.

Is there a quick guide to doing this (or something similar)?

All you need are
1. a USB drive that had large enough space to clone your existing hard disk OS installation
2. choose a method to clone your existing hard disk OS installation.
3. then you are in a position to do some partitioning work on the hard disk.

[bb333]

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$ sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.2

Install debian in there. Dual boot when you get comfortable as there is way less hand holding in Debian, especially if you are jumping in with a netinst.

[karmafarmer]

Thanks for all the replies. After considering a virtualbox, a USB clone, etc, I've decided I actually had my heart set on a dual-boot. I'm not (entirely) uncomfortable with Debian, I've installed it and use it on my laptop, it's just that I've always had a clean hard drive to play with.

Since my lappy only has 128MB RAM, it's no good for what I want to do, so I'd like to (if I can), boot into a liveCD (preferably with Mint), resize my desktop's partitions and install Debian on there. Hopefully when I boot up Mint it will still be there.

I don't mind the risk of losing data, as I have everything backed up, I'd just prefer there to be the chance of not having to, so if there's anything I can do to preserve the data, I'd rather do that

So far, from what I gather, I boot into a LiveCD, resize the necessary partition(s) without moving them, then boot into Debian CD and install from there?

A few questions, if that's ok:-

Which partition(s) should I resize? I'm not sure how Mint's installation sets things up, but it was a clean install on an empty hard drive.

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Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00044536

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048   148080639    74039296   83  Linux
/dev/sda2       148082686   156301311     4109313    5  Extended
/dev/sda5       148082688   156301311     4109312   82  Linux swap / Solaris


What's my next step?

Thanks again for the help,

Karl

[wayne128]

I don't mind the risk of losing data, as I have everything backed up, I'd just prefer there to be the chance of not having to, so if there's anything I can do to preserve the data, I'd rather do that

OK, you know the risk.
Now, you must have a USB drive that can backup.
Just run Live DVD or Debian/mint/partedmagic or any linux DVD you have, run gparted, copy the whole internal hard disk's /dev/sda1 and paste to USB unallocated space, when complete, you have a CLONE of your /dev/sda1 .

So far, from what I gather, I boot into a LiveCD, resize the necessary partition(s) without moving them, then boot into Debian CD and install from there?

A few questions, if that's ok:-

Which partition(s) should I resize? I'm not sure how Mint's installation sets things up, but it was a clean install on an empty hard drive.

Code: Select all

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048   148080639    74039296   83  Linux


What's my next step?

from your fdisk data, your root is on /dev/sda1, which has the largest size, some 70+G.
So you would shrink this /dev/sda1 and create a 10G-20G space for Debian installation.

Then, boot laptop from Debian CD, and install from there.

Since you mentioned Debian (minimal, netinst), I just want to put a few notes for you, skip reading if you are already experienced dealing with Debian netinstall.
if you have not yet experienced how to install from Debian netinst, you might want to know that you MUST have internet access to start with, and have a lot of free time.
In order that you have internet, your internet access with wired lan must work out of the box with Debian , that is, your wired LAN is already supported by the Debian 'free', default kernel.
Else, you would need to have non-free-firmware preinstalled.

If you do not mind an easier path, then, google and get a Debian Live CD, which can check internet, etc in live mode and let you play before install.

Or, even easier, get a un-official Debian iso,http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/
this one is the easier, because it has non-free-firmware already preloaded, save much trouble.